Lethal Weapon - Two tough professionals

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Movie
German title Lethal Weapon - Two tough professionals
Original title Lethal weapon
Leathal weapon de.svg
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1987
length 112 minutes
Age rating FSK 18/16 (abridged version / Director's Cut)
Rod
Director Richard Donner
script Shane Black
production Joel Silver
Richard Donner
music Eric Clapton
Michael Kamen
camera Stephen Goldblatt
cut Stuart Baird
occupation
synchronization
chronology

Successor  →
focus LA

Lethal Weapon is the first film in a series of American action films from 1987. The sequels were released in 1989 , 1992 and 1998. Lethal Weapon - two steel-hard professionals (orig. Lethal Weapon , English "Deadly weapon") . All four films show Mel Gibson and Danny Glover as unequal partners in the police of Los Angeles . The film opened in German cinemas on September 10, 1987.

action

On his fiftieth birthday, long-established cop Roger Murtaugh of the Los Angeles Police Department was assigned a new partner in Sergeant Martin Riggs. He is much younger than him, served in the US Army Special Forces in Vietnam and is the exact opposite of him - since the death of his wife he has been suicidal, enjoys drinking and smoking and is very reckless in his work, both himself and himself also towards its surroundings. The two investigate the alleged suicide of Amanda Hunsaker, the daughter of an old friend of Murtaugh, and come up against a well-organized group of former CIA - mercenaries working together in a special unit in the Vietnam War have served and for some time from that country heroin into the Smuggle USA. This group is called the Shadow Company . This ring is led by General McAllister and his assistant Mr. Joshua.

Murtaugh and Riggs discover that Hunsaker was involved in their dealings as a money launderer . But when Hunsaker threatened to blow the deal, his daughter was murdered by Mr. Joshua. When the two police officers want to confront Hunsaker, Mr. Joshua also kills him from a helicopter. Murtaugh and Riggs are now increasingly being targeted by the criminal organization and there are bloody attacks on the lives of the two police officers.

In another attack, Riggs, Murtaugh and Roger's daughter Rianne are captured. All three are taken to the same place, where Riggs and Murtaugh are tortured to say what they know about the Shadow Company's business. However, Riggs manages to free himself, Murtaugh and Rianne. He and Murtaugh attack the criminals, and McAllister dies in an explosion that blows up a load of heroin. Later, when everything seems to be over, there is a fist fight between Mr. Joshua and Riggs in the front yard of Murtaugh, which Riggs wins. When Joshua draws a gun after the fight, he is shot by Riggs and Murtaugh. Riggs then spends Christmas Eve with the Murtaughs as an unofficial member of their family.

backgrounds

American logo
  • Lethal Weapon was produced with a rather low budget of around 15 million US dollars and grossed 65 million dollars at the box office in the US alone, making it one of the financially most successful films of 1987. Although action films in the US mostly take place in the summer be published, ran Lethal Weapon in the spring in the US-American cinemas.
  • To realistically portray the fall of the girl from the balcony at the beginning of the film, the actress actually had to jump. However, an air cushion was stretched below, on which the street backdrop with the cars was painted. It was Jackie Swanson's first role in a film.
  • Originally, director Richard Donner wanted to make the ending different, after which Riggs and Murtaugh split up in the end. But he found that these two characters had become friends more and more during the film and so he decided to shoot the ending again. Without the ending that can be seen in the film, the three follow-up films might not have been made at all, because initially no sequels to Lethal Weapon were planned.
  • Anthony Kiedis ' father, John Kiedis, plays a drug dealer. In the credits he is performed as Blackie Dammet .
  • Danny Glover , who plays 50-year-old Roger Murtaugh, was only 40 years old at the time of the first part in 1987.
  • The film is dedicated to the stuntman and actor Dar Robinson , who died in an accident on November 21, 1986 .
  • In 1993, Loaded Weapon 1 was a parody of Lethal Weapon with Emilio Estevez , Samuel L. Jackson and William Shatner in the lead roles.
  • During the jump of the alleged suicide, Riggs chained himself to the suicide with handcuffs, but during the subsequent jump they can no longer be seen because both actors had to jump alone for safety reasons.

synchronization

The German synchronized editing was created in 1987.

role actor Voice actor
Martin Riggs Mel Gibson Elmar Wepper
Roger Murtaugh Danny Glover Uwe Friedrichsen
Mr. Joshua Gary Busey Randolf Kronberg
General Peter McAllister Mitch Ryan Reinhard Glemnitz
Michael Hunsaker Tom Atkins Horst Naumann
Trish Murtaugh Darlene Love Marion Hartmann
Rianne Murtaugh Traci Wolfe Irina Wanka
Cpt. Ed Murphy Steve Kahan Michael Cramer
Mendez Ed O'Ross Tonio von der Meden
Suicidal Michael Shaner Hans-Georg Panczak

Reviews

Roger Ebert wrote in the Chicago Sun-Times on March 6, 1987 that he was generally bored with action films, but that he found this film exciting "from start to finish". He compared the film to Richard Donner's earlier films such as Superman and The Day of the Falcon , which would be outdone. Ebert praised the portrayal of Gary Busey and the appearance of Traci Wolfe as well as the "surprising" end of the plot.

“A film that blatantly pays homage to violence legitimized by the state; his cynical, inhuman attitude is not compensated for by humorous dialogues. Staging at television level, acting disappointing. "

- Lexicon of international film

Awards

The film was nominated for the Oscar Film Award in 1988 for Best Sound . In 1989 it won the Image Award in three categories: For Best Picture , for Danny Glover and for Traci Wolfe . Ebonie Smith was nominated for the Young Artist Award in 1989.

Eric Clapton and Michael Kamen won the BMI Film Music Award in 1988 . The film won the US Motion Picture Sound Editors Award in 1988 for Best Sound Editing .

Sequels

A series of the same name based on the film series has been broadcast since autumn 2016 . The lead roles are Clayne Crawford (Riggs) and Damon Wayans (Murtaugh). A first trailer was published in mid-May 2016. The series was canceled in May 2019.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Release certificate for Lethal Weapon - two steel-hard professionals . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , June 2010 (PDF; test number: 58 080 V).
  2. ↑ Box office business for Lethal Weapon - Two steel-hard professionals
  3. ↑ a b c Trivia
  4. ↑ Lethal Weapon - Two tough professionals in the German dubbing index ; Retrieved August 28, 2009
  5. ↑ Thomas Bräutigam : Stars and their German voices. Lexicon of voice actors . Schüren, Marburg 2009, ISBN 978-3-89472-627-0 , p. 353
  6. ^ Review by Roger Ebert
  7. ↑ Lethal Weapon - Two tough professionals. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  8. ↑ Awards for Lethal Weapon - Two tough professionals